Minority-carrier lifetime of magnetic field applied Czochralski silicon wafers

The dependence of minority-carrier lifetimes and diffusion length on starting silicon materials grown by the magnetic field applied Czochralski (MCZ), conventional Czochralski(CZ), and float-zone (FZ) methods has been investigated with a capacitance-time relaxation technique. MCZ silicon yields longer minority-carrier lifetimes and diffusion length than those of both CZ and FZ silicon materials. The generation lifetime of MCZ silicon increases, while the recombination lifetime decreases, with the initial oxygen concentration. These characteristics are correlated with grown-in defects and gettering by oxygen-related defects.